Over the last couple of days, we have been posting blogs of Mike’s Diary. Mike Donnellan is one of our latest Ride25 riders who conquered the journey from Leeds to Paris last week. Mike has kindly given us permission to publish his diary of the journey – charting the highs and lows of his incredible achievement. Here is day 3…
• Distance covered – 179 km
• Duration – 11 hours
• Ascent – 4,500 feet
• Calories consumed – 8,000
• Terrain – reasonable flat with gentle rolling hills with a brute of a climb just after leaving Thame (18%) following the 2014 Edition of the Tour of Britain
• Pace – decent rhythm for most of the day
• Heart beat – 126 bpm average, 189 bpm peak
Another exceptionally long day in the saddle although surprisingly I was still going strong at the end. I had found my long distance cycling legs.
As we pulled out of Thame we quickly headed into the Chiltern Hills facing an extremely steep 600 foot climb that lasted for 10 mins. This was to be included in this years Tour of Britain for Wiggins and Co so were in great company. With one exception everyone had to resort to the walk of shame. After that exertion the rest of the day was pleasant.
The mid-morning coffee stop was Windsor. Unfortunately, due to the daily changing of the guard at Windsor Castle the support vans were unable to get through the blocked roads. The racing group haired off through Windsor Great Park setting the usual hot pace driven by the chain gang that has emerged over the course of the 1st couple of days.
Lunch was a long way out today at 62 miles. This was located at a pub on the southern outskirts of Guilford.
We eventually reached our hotel in Brighton at 7.10pm.
Funny, I was neither tired nor fatigued despite a third successive day of 100+ miles (189 km) on the road. Cumulatively, starting in Leeds to Brighton, we have travelled 190+155+179 = 524 kms (314 miles) in just 3 days.
Read Day 4 of Mike’s Diary here.
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